Chinese began to open its market and reduces of governmental control over marketing and labour mobility in the1980s. After twenty year reform of state-ownership enterprises the SOEs remained the most significant role in China economy and control the key industry of China. The adjustment of government policy and stabile political environment played a role in the recent increase of foreign investment in China. By the end of June 1997, it was reported that over 200,000 business joint ventures had been registered in China, with a total foreign investment of $204 billion ($15.7 billion from US companies) (China National Statistics Bureau, 1997). Chinese government was full support the automobile industry and regards this industry as the ‘pillar’ industry of the nationally economy. But increased restrictions on foreign exchange and set up high tariff barrier for foreign investment. In addition China’s entry into the WTO would dramatically alter the competitive landscape on one hand and also lower the tariffs on the other hand.

Economical

China is a developing country, after economic reform started in the early 1980s, China's economic system has been in a transition period from an "old" centralized planning economy to a more open and decentralized market economy. China’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth rapidly with an average 8% raise per year and seem will maintain its high-speed increase in the future. At the same time individual income gain fast growth particularly in some eastern coastal city like Shanghai (see Appendix 1,2). A top economical official predict: “China’s gross domestic product will maintain its 7 percent growing speed in the future” (Yang, 1998).

Social/Culture

Labour Market: China's abundant labor resource has provided a great amount of labors at a relatively very low cost to foreign multinational corporations and their Chinese local plants. In order to provide more knowledgeable and skilled workforce, China began to reform its the education policy in 1998. With the expanding adoption of university the percentage of group enrolled in tertiary education increased by 1% percent during nearest 10 years. The power of the education will be more and more powerful before long. Lifestyle Change: Cities like Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou - have been developed into regional business centers, mainly due to their geographic locations - now these places displaying a more modern business-oriented culture with hybrid east-west lifestyle. Geographic change: With the economic development and increase populations China has been urbanizing more rapidly than had been anticipated. The urban share of the population rising by nine percentage points between 1987 and 1997. (China National Statistics Bureau, 1997)

Technological

Global: Along with the computerization and usage of Internet, many company built up their own Internal Area Network and Database. Thought the extensive application of the network, many transactions performed thought the Internet. E–business has been the main transaction approach of all the company. China: the development of technology in China was two decades behind the global. But recent year, Chinese government was focusing on industry technological reform.

Industry Environment Analysis – Michael Porter’s five forces analysis

The threat of new entrants

Economies of scale – China’s automotive industry was in the growth stage of the industry lifecycle in 1997/98, capacity was extremely dispersed with about 115 assembly plants with an average production scale of 13739 units per plant, far below the minimum efficient scale of the international standard. Economies of scale are harder to achieve (low barrier)

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...CaseStudyShanghai Tang: The first Global Chinese Luxury Brand?
1) What is a luxury brand?
A luxury brand is a brand that consumer associates it with luxury. Most of its products are luxury goods. It includes brands whose names are associated with luxury, high price, or high quality goods.
A luxury brand is associated with sophistication (1 out of 5 brand related dimensions). Brands that are considered upper class and charming, high in sophistication dimension scale: E.g Cartier, Rolex are well- known luxury brands. Mercedes- Benz would be one of the few that consumers will think of a luxury automobile brand.
How is it different from a regular, mass market brand?
Regular mass market brand do not have or has very little form of identification and has low or no brand equity. It could also be that it is a brand used regularly but consumers do not have strong brand recognition and brand recall. A luxury brand possesses a high equity because consumers believe these brands have the ability and willingness to deliver on their brand promises. A mass market brand focuses on high sales and low prices. A regular or mass market brand is usually low in price and usually is essential but not affluent unlike luxury brand. E.g. Casio as compared to Rolex watches.
How does one build a luxury brand?
Brand equity is built upon Brand Knowledge that consists of 2 forms: Brand...

...﻿Shanghai Tang – CaseStudy
With regard to the problem of the lack of a creative director, we suggest a variety of solutions. Firstly, considering that the coordination of six designers have a vital importance in order to give compactness and homogeneity to the collections, the presence of a creative director is essential. Given the increasingly influential economic crisis , we realize that hiring a new creative director can be a huge responsibility, so we think it could be useful to make each new collection in collaboration with a famous designer from the world of luxury, as other fashion companies do. In fact, by hiring a designer who is well known and recognizable - by all types of customers in every country - not just the collection could boast a prestigious designer brand , but also would create attractiveness for new potential customers. Having a creative director would also solve the communication problems between designers and management, as a single creative director would be useful to mediate between the groups. On one hand, the creative director could explain the collection to the management and, on the other hand, the management could redirect designers’ creations if they do not fully comply with the guidelines of the company without having misunderstanding.
Finally , another valuable support to the lack of a permanent head designer may be working with cool hunters established in every country where...

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CASESTUDY:
BAJAJ AUTO LTD.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Bajaj Auto Limited was established in 1945, initially importing scooters and three wheelers from Piaggioand later becoming a powerhouse in the Indian two wheeler industry. This paper highlights the effects of the Indian government policy on foreign imports until 1991, BAL’s marketing or lack of it during this period and the evolution of the Indian two wheeler industry from scooters to 2 stroke and 4 stroke bikes with a strong emphasis on BAL while reviewing its strategies. Along with the analysis, this paper suggests the possibility of BAL moving into developing markets in order to increase sales and establish a global footprint. The report also includes SWOT & PESTLE analysis of BAL which will help it to formulate an effective marketing strategy for the next five years. In addition to SWOT and PESTLE analysis, Porters five forces model was used to help gain a more comprehensive understanding of external and internal factors which will affect BAL in the coming years.
COMPANY PROFILE: BAJAJ AUTO LTD. Bajaj Auto Limited (BAL) is the flagship company of Bajaj group, one of India's well-known leading business houses.The aim of the report is to provide BAL with a comprehensively researched and analyzed report which will help it develop an effective marketing strategy for their future...

...Volkswagen SA CaseStudy
Improving visibility, productivity and accuracy in the Warehouse. In 2001, the Volkswagen of South Africa Parts & Accessories Division (VWSA P&A) set out to introduce a new Warehouse Management System in order to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex business environment. In the period from 1999 to 2006, the number of passenger vehicle models in South Africa grew from 650 to 1080 leading to a 150% growth in the number of SKU’s stocked by VWSA. Better visibility, stock accuracy and inventory management was identified as a key business objective by VWSA management. During the tender phase three WMS systems were short listed to the final round. A local system was found to be lacking critical functionality and an international system already utilised within the VW group was found to be too expensive to run locally. The RedPrairie Warehouse Management system was selected bringing Super Group into the equation as the local partner for RedPrairie. The technology team at Super Group implemented the RedPrairie system working in close association and partnership with VWSA P&A and RedPrairie as well as providing ongoing support. Challenges faced Starting off from a low technology base and migrating towards a paperless environment with radio frequency technology had obvious advantages but also posed considerable challenges. The main obstacle initially was staff training and improving computer...

...THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
VWoA – A CaseStudy
VWoA – A CaseStudy
1.0. Introduction
Alignment of an enterprise’s goals with its IT1 and IS1 systems has been a challenge ever since IT became a business enabler. Proposing an IT alignment requires a thorough understanding of the business goals of the enterprise and the knowledge that alignment is an iterative process which requires constant measurement and honing (Chan, 2002). Enterprises often face the problem of balance of priorities between IT and Business objectives. This report deals with one such case that faced alignment and prioritization hardships resulting in an unclear approach to achieve a corporate strategy.
2.0. The internal crisis at VWoA
Volkswagen, one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers had been facing a constant problem of uneven sales figures irrespective of their repeated investments in IT and IS. They faced problems in project dependencies and approval even though they prioritized their projects they were faced with an abyss created between enterprise priorities and functional projects approval. The process of efficient (doing things right) prioritizing and IT alignment seemed to elude the enterprise (Austin, 2007).
3.0. Strengths of VWoA – A radical transformation
Luftman (2000) stresses that alignment of IT and business within an organization is paramount...

...Introduction
In this case we get an entire scenario about how the Japan deflation set in, what were the effects of the deflation on the economy as well as on the people of Japan. It also mentions about the various reasons because of which Japan was in such a tight grip of Deflation, Depression, Demographics and Debts Guides us through the steps taken by the government in order to curb this deflation. Imparts a great knowledge to us about the various economic terms like deflation, self-liquidating credit, Non-Self Liquidating Credit and how the people and economy of a country is affected by these.
Free markets economies are subject to cycles. Economic cycles consist of fluctuating periods of economic expansion and contraction as measured by a nation's gross domestic product (GDP). The length of economic cycles (periods of expansion vs. contraction) can vary greatly. The traditional measure of an economic recession is two or more consecutive quarters of falling gross domestic product. There are also economic depressions, which are extended periods of economic contraction such as the Great Depression of the 1930s.
From 1991 through 2001, Japan experienced a period of economic stagnation and price deflation known as "Japan's Lost Decade." While the Japanese economy outgrew this period, it did so at a pace that was much slower than other industrialized nations. During this period, the Japanese economy suffered from both a credit crunch and a liquidity trap....